I have to confess, I was a moron last night. I made a pot of tea right before bedtime (it sounded so good!) and the caffeine kept me up until 4 am, so I am totally sleep deprived today. The scale seems to dislike my zombified state, too, and rewarded me with .2 gain despite perfect diet adherence all week, so I'm at 185.6 this morning. I'm going to get a nap and lots of rest tonight and see if I can't lose better tomorrow. I HAVE to meet 184 for a big break on my medical insurance and I'm so eager to get there, but I've had stalls and slow progress the past week and change, right when I really wanted to blow through this decade.

Still, my whining is fairly empty, as I've had an excellent round and new low thus far. But darnit, I want this weight off and I don't want caffeine and exhaustion screwing with it ;)

More visible changes to my body even with the scale not moving quite as quickly as it did in the beginning (homeostasis is like that, unfortunately!). My back fat, which is a feature of my putting on weight pretty much only rough my torso, has diminished to a ridiculous degree. I have just a little pad of it left between my shoulder blades and one roll near my waist that used to be several inches bigger. Now, it just barely pads the upper curve of my ribs and is almost invisible through clothing. This was one of my least favorite parts of gaining weight, so to see that leaving my form, despite water retention? I could cheer from rooftops, I tell you!

Nothing much to say this Saturday morning. I weighed in at 185.4, which is a .4 pound loss from yesterday and brings my net losses to 22 pounds. I'm still hoping to get to 184 by tomorrow or Monday, but I can't control the weight I lose at, unfortunately. Still, good progress and a solid day on plan is the best I can do, so I can't complain!

Still losing huge amounts of inches. I can see them off of my hips and belly, we'll see what the tape measure says at 179 pounds but I think that is where I am noticing the 'loss' the most - not on the scale, but in the overall appearance of my body. Much less jiggly and lumpy these days ;)

I weighed in today at 185.8, which is a pound down from yesterday! It appears whatever stall I was engaged in for a week was busted, either by the apple day or on its' own (I can't say with certainty). Regardless, I'm happy to be beyond that for sure, moving down the scale again feels good.

I have an order in for a product I am looking forward to combining with stevia in shakes and coffee, I will give a review of it when it arrives. The product is Capella flavor drops, and the reviews are pretty ravingly in favor of them. I'm trying to transition away from Splenda as much as I can, because it gives me cravings, so my old standby davinci sugar free syrups need to go. If the drops plus some stevia glycerine do the trick, I'll be quite happy with them. The flavors they offer sound phenomenal and I like the idea of them being highly concentrated so they don't throw off the liquid proportions when used in cupcakes, custards, etc. Check them out for yourself at http://capellaflavordrops.com/

And no, nobody paid me to comment of this product ;)

The apple day went well, though I never thought I could get sick of apples, it turns out six in a day is indeed about the threshold for me! I was 188.2 yesterday and 186.8 today, so that is about a pound and a half of loss there. Is it enough to break through the stall and have me consistently going down again? Who knows but time, eh?

I'm still feeling energetic and not hungry at all, still losing inches, too. My complexion has continued to be clear despite an almost complete cessation of my skin care treatments, something that is unheard of, for me. I haven't noticed any unusual fatigue, though I am not getting enough sleep some nights and I can definitely feel that in the morning, it doesn't seem to be diet related. And while I'm definitely plotting and planning some of the lovely dishes I am going to make when I get into P3 (can we say short rib roast? Perfectly compliant, perfectly delicious!) I'm not really struggling to subsist on any of the P2 foods, nor am I really fighting any cravings or desire to cheat. I'm totally committed and it isn't a struggle. That's incredible, given how restrictive this diet is. But the lack of sugar and all but the tiniest allowed starch has obliterated my cravings, while the hCG circulating my fat stores for consumption has made up the caloric difference I am not taking in through chewing.

My goal for this week is to see 184 before Friday, if I can. That is the new threshold the insurance lady informed me I had to meet to get a 35% discount off my current rate of coverage. Unfortunately I have to be there or below that for a ear before that kicks into effect, so my husband greatly desires that we notify them of that as soon as possible, to reap the rewards of it sooner than later. I think, on a plan like this, that is a doable goal. And if I don't meet it by Friday, I should be there by Monday, for sure. But either way, I'm really getting into 'normal' territory with my weight and looks and it is thrilling.

Yes, I'm still high on the BMI and will be until the high 160's, but practically? Nobody is going to point me out as 'the fat one' in the room, if pressed. More and more I am hitting weights that suit my figure and are attractive, as opposed to 'not particularly horrid' or 'still kind of cute' despite the fat. You know how that is? The 'you have such a pretty face!' saying, that basically all but screams that everything else about you is unfortunate and a darn shame? I am getting out of the realm of getting such backhanded compliments and I'm grateful.

As for energy, can I say how much lighter I feel?! That twenty pounds makes a difference in how much spring is in my step, for sure, and the feeling of being more limber and light is quite satisfying.

All in all, I'd say the apple day was a success, but moreover I'd say the protocol, itself, is a huge success for me. 20.6 pounds off forever, without much struggle, and a solid plan in place to solidify and maintain it before dropping even more? What more could I ask for, really, after several years of being less than fruitful with the calorie counting and not addressing some health issues my food choices were creating. Calorie counting wasn't fixing the cravings for junk, or my immune issues, or my hunger and energy issues. This protocol is. And yes, it requires some major paradigm shifts, and I have to constantly defend it as NOT being a fad/crash diet, but I know and am living out the truth - hCG when properly used has been a miracle worker for my health and weight loss, and enabled me to lose the pounds I have struggled with shedding for years.

So apple day or no, how could I call myself anything less than successful and thrilled?

Well ladies and gentlemen, it appears I have been a bit too hard on myself for the weekends' food and possible water retention issues. At this point, being perfectly on plan except for that one meal that was almost on plan, I have been bouncing between 187.0 and 188.8 for six days.

Yes indeed, I am in an honest to goodness stall, through no dietary fault of my own. My body is setting and resetting its' weight lower than the 190's and it is taking its sweet time in doing it! There is zero reason, in my activity, food adherence, or even basic hormone fluctuations, that I shouldn't be moving down the scale right now, so I'm quite comforted to know that this is just an adjustment phase and I haven't actually done anything wrong.

I wasn't sure if it was diet, hormones, or a factor beyond my control (like non-linear loss) for a few days, because any one or two days in isolation doesn't give the whole picture. But in observing my recorded weights for the past week it is clear now that I'm not going down the scale because my body is adjusting to the loss, not because of cheats or anything like that. I've been vigorous about staying on plan and that makes troubleshooting my scale progress much easier.

The good news in all this is twofold: First, I am losing inches like crazy even though the scale isn't budging. The same jeans that were tight at 188 a week ago now fit at the same weight. My bras are on the tightest hooks, I can count my top ribs through my skin and see collarbones. It is common on the "Pounds and Inches" protocol to yield many inches when the scale seems stick, and I'm experiencing the same thing, myself.

The second piece of good news is that the protocol includes a stall busting tip, called an Apple Day. Today I've decided to do one. Instead of my normal meals composition, I am to eat six apples and nothing else today, to clear out my digestive tract and cut through any retained water. Oftentimes this is all that is needed to break up normal stalls, so I'm giving it a shot. If that doesn't work, the only other solution is more time. I'm good with that!

This is where the weight loss estimates of a half pound a day for women on the protocol come from. I have been losing closer to a pound a day, but with TOM and two stalls, those great loss days average with the slower ones and I come up with good, but not quite as brisk, numbers.

I was at 188.2 this morning. We'll see what an apple day brings. 500 calories of apples and as much water and tea as I want actually sounds refreshing :)

Just as Dr. Simeons says in "Pounds and Inches", eating off plan food, even in the proper calorie amounts, will result in rapid gains if hCG is in your system. The macronutrients breakdown of his food list is very important for triggering proper fat loss. I definitely don't regret that date Saturday night, now less than ever, as it taught me some really valuable this about the protocol and how my body reacts to it (very well!).

I am down a pound from yesterday, to 187.8. Back into the normal losing mode of the protocol, away from the food and ovulation related water retention, back heading toward virgin territory with my weight and where I want to be. More than ever, I am completely convinced that staying 100% on plan, as I have for every meal but one the entire last month, is the way to go for me. I lose well, feel great, look great, and food (though not particularly tasty) is simple enough and nutritious. If I want to make my goals of 170-something, or even the high 160's, I will do that the fastest and most reliably by being a paragon of dietary virtue for a few more weeks and then working on stabilizing for P3/P4.

That's exactly how the protocol works - rapid losses with the hCG making up calorie deficits in dietary fat by using fat stores instead, while consuming just enough protein to protect lean mass during this process. Then, the next stage of the diet adds back in lots of dietary fat and protein, plus nutrient-dense vegetables and fruit (but no starch or sugar) to replenish any deficiencies caused by P2 and encourage the body to stabilize at a new set point weight. The weeks following that reinforce the set point (not allowi weight to veer two pounds out of range on either side of it) while reintroducing starchy food as the body tolerates it.

Once that cycle is completed, another weight loss cycle may be started.

It is both effective and brilliant, if my mother is any indication. And it's working for me, too. But the metabolic forces the diet puts into motion are delicate and nutrient-sensitive, so playing fast and loose with the foods and quantities makes quite the unpredictable and likely unsatisfactory situation.

As for me, I'm happy to persist on plan for the last half of this dietary phase and am looking forward to P3 with much eagerness. But I will NOT be doing any more restaurant meals during this plan, until I can have dietary fat again. It was a nice break, but it isn't worth another one! If something comes up, I will transition off P2 and into P3 earlier than I originally planned, so I don't have any struggles complying to my food requirements for the event. At this point in the diet I can stop hCG at any time, complete an additional 72 hours of VLCD while the hCG is metabolizing out of my system, and then I am in P3. Voila :)

At this point I have no plans to complete less than 40 doses of hCG, but should the need arise it is nice to know I have the flexibility to stop at this point and have a slightly higher set point for this round than my initial goal.

I'm still 20 pounds down, at this point additional loss is just an incredible bonus I relish, I absolutely cannot complain about my losses on this protocol, and they are nearly effortless. No hunger, no weakness or fatigue, no strenuous or superhuman effort. And that the entire point of the diet is to establish a set point at the new weight, not just to lose with no plan of maintenance or easily followed permanent way of eating? Awesome.

So if we ever need lessons that ovulation creates temporary water retention-related gains, I think I'm a great test case. Eating entirely on plan, with a fairly normal amount of rest, a full gallon of water to drink, and an average to low activity day, I retained enough water to have me 'gain' nearly a pound, bringing my morning total to 188.8, despite not a single day over 600 calories in just shy of a month.

I'm ovulating today, and though I don't feel bloated clearly some tissues are holding onto water and my digestive system has slowed a bit, temporarily. This is where documenting how your body responds to various stimuli can help make diagnosing problems a bit easier, and certainly create less mental panic as to 'why this isn't working?!'. It is, but my body isn't a machine run by gears, and it doesn't create perfectly uniform outputs on the basis of one regulated input (calories and the nutrients they are comprised of). No indeed, our bodies are far more complex and function a bit more mysteriously than we give them credit for.

I imagine tomorrow will see a fairly big loss, or perhaps one more day of stalls/gains, before I head into the literal phase of my cycle and this all regulates down again. In the meantime, this calls for no more action than my continued adherence to my plan and waiting it out. And that, I can do!

Well that sounds ominous and it really shouldn't, but it needs to be said nonetheless. When on protocol, it is much easier to stick to your plan when you prepare all your own food. Last night my husband and I went out on a much-needed date and, while I got the most protocol-compliant item I could on the menu, it still isn't exactly what Simeons prescribes and I paid for it with a pound of water weight this morning, coming in at 188.

I ate a fajita platter, with chicken breast, green peppers, and onions. No tortilla, about a quarter cup of rice to fulfil my starch requirement. A good bit of pico de gallo to season. Very tasty, and since I had not eaten a single thing all day, my calories should have been somewhat in range. But I ate my first meal of the day at 6:30 pm (food left in my guts this morning, no doubt), prepared by someone else and definitely using a some fat to sauté the veggies (not the end of the world, but disrupting to weightloss on this part of the protocol), and with a mix of veggie components instead of a single choice per meal (harder for my system to break down). The weight gain is hardly shocking, and should be off soon enough, but it bears repeating that the very best results with this system come with following it to the letter. Because a healthy, fairly low calorie, low carb meal of my own choosing? Didn't do nearly what his standard plan did on the scale.

It was a nice date and I don't regret it, I made good choices and enjoyed myself, but the less I even tempt fate with goi out and eating something, the faster I'll get to goal.

As I mentioned in the title, it's Sunday and so I skip an injection. Given how late I ate last night I am not hungry this morning, so that's nice. I'm 100% on plan today, vigorous with my water intake, and am hoping the pound of this morning will vanish by tomorrow. Only one way to find out!

Yes indeed, unless I do an extended round I am halfway through P2 today, which is great news! I am down to 187.0 today, a .4 pound loss. I'm fighting a lot of fatigue (my own making, I've been getting to bed late) and I think it makes the scale unhappy for me to be tired.

Given that I can barely stay awake to type this, you'll have to excuse the brevity. I'm drawing a happy, weight lossy blank :)

Apparently I'm rare - most gals who do hCG seem to lose big (2-5 pounds a day) for the first week, and then their losses taper down to half a pound or so for the duration of the protocol. I didn't really have any big water weight or load weight losses, but have consistently lost right around a pound per dose the entire time, with very little deviation.m

Today is another one of those days - I was down .8 pounds to 187.4, or exactly 20 pounds gone. It is a bit mind boggling that I can lose so well and feel so good. My skin is clear and bright, my energy is great, my weight is coming off of all the right places, I'm not losing large amounts of hair (I hope it stays that way!). Things are great in dietville and my plan isn't really giving me trouble. I haven't had a hard time sticking to it, while it is boring (with the very limited food list) it is nutritious and certainly tolerable for the short time I am on it, and the losses are so great they keep me well pacified.

I admit I get highly annoyed when hCG is called a fad or crash diet. That shows such a fundamental misunderstanding of both how the hCG works and what the diet is trying to do - retool the chemical signals that control fat storage and break addictions to processed, high sugar/starch foods. It does so beautifully, and not only am I eating NO sugar these days, either in pastry or granulated form, but I don't much crave it and my palate has been completely nixed of artificial sweetener addictions, too. I've been drinking plain water without issue - no crystal light, diet soda, or the like. Not needing five pieces of gum to get me through me cravings for the day. Not needing to sweeten food like grapefruit, because they're sweet enough. Things like that.

The other thing that bugs me about the crash diet designation is that, by definition, those diets have losses that cannot be easily maintained - they yoyo users. But the entire point of the protocol is breaking food addictions, fixing the body, and resetting the previous weight set point to a new low that is maintained within a two pound window on either side. And it WORKS. On the message board and mailing list I see hundreds of ex-yoyo dieters, ex-atkiners, ex-calorie counters like me who all lost weight on our previous methods but found they couldn't be easily maintained, stopped working well after a while, or just didn't give us what we want. Hundreds of people who DID find both healthy weights and livable, easy maintenance after completing P3 and moving into P4. Many more like me who are in the process and genuinely can say we are less hungry on our 500 calorie diets than on our 1800 calorie diets of old. And yet so-called 'experts' have the gall to tell experienced dieters, who know their bodies, that such a thing is just the placebo effect and ignore all the science regarding why the hCG works and what is does? Solid science that has been around and reinforced for six decades?

When I see it lumped next to the tapeworm diet and cabbage soup cleanses, yeah, I get pretty angry. Because that ignorance (or some clinics' shameless altering of much or all of the protocol into something that doesn't work as well) is preventing a lot of people suffering with obesity from finding both a method and a long term answer to their weight control issues.

This plan is NOT for everyone. It takes research, preparation, and dedication. But willingness to do the aforementioned things brings wonderful results. I think any long term watcher of my blog knows I'm both skeptical of most diets and sensible in what I undertake. I didn't just hop on a crazy train and do something completely reckless with the body God gave me! But I hope my exhaustive documenting of my process, thoughts, and results on this blog might help some who are looking for answers find what they need. For me, the protocol is increasingly looking to be 'it'. As I move toward P3 and maintenance - P4 - we will see if that holds, but for getting the weight off in a healthy, painless, manner? This has far exceeded what calorie counting does for me. Less hunger, less cravings, weight off of my belly and NOT my face or arms (the emaciated look, where structural fat is lost but the saddlebags remain).

It has liberated me of most of my autoimmune responses to certain foods and it is OBVIOUS. No more acne, probably 80% less seborrhea, no diarrhea or bloating, no achy joints from sugar inflammation, no overproduction of oil mixed with dry, flaky patches of skin. None of that. And because those are all gone, whe I am slowly reintroducing foods in P3 I can actually tell which ones cause the problem (is it dairy or is it the bread? Sugary treats or yeast?) and which ones I can indulge in on occasions like holidays or dates, where they aren't the most nourishing thing for my body, but they can be tolerated. It allows me to, once and for all, make up a food list that works for ME and break the cravins enough to allow me to ban whatever I truly can't tolerate. That, alone, has made this diet worth it, incredible weightloss aside.

And it IS incredible - in 20 doses of hCG, with about five rest days, I have lost 20 pounds right where they needed to go, with no struggle, no hunger, and minimal pain (from the shots). And the pain factor could be completely eliminated if I did my hCG sublingually instead of subcutaneously. To 'experts' who gloss over the diet's details without researching it and actually studying what the protocol is, it looks like a fad diet. Unsustainable, unhealthy, impossible to maintain. But I know the truth - hCG has been a total answer to my prayers about my weight and food struggles, it works exactly as Dr. Simeons claimed, and for some dieters who struggled for a long time with common wisdom on their diets, it can be exactly the silver bullet needed to move the scale and blast through the wall of cravings that keeps us imprisoned in eating styles that aren't good for our health.

I am so grateful for what this diet has done for my body. I hope others can find some success in it, too. That is why I am blogging so extensively about this - the only way to counterbalance the Dr Oz/Cosmo/uninformed family doctor nonsense about this plan is more information, more experiences, more details into how and why it works. And while I'm a novice nobody, I still hope these posts can give more information to those who are curious, or might be advising a friend or relative on their weight issues. I started out a skeptic, but I'm a total believer through my own research and experience.

I weighed in this morning at 188.2, a pound down from yesterday despite terrible sleep (I stayed up reading an addictive book, naughty me!). My BMI is now 33.3, which is great compared to the BMI of 45 I began with. I will throw a true mental party when I hit 'overweight' as opposed to 'obese'. It looks like that number is at 169 pounds and I may or may not hit it this round, but I'll be darn close!

Nothing interesting to report, beyond that. Just chugging along one day at a time.

So I was posting on one of the message boards I love for weight loss support, and I posted a before and after comparison of my new pictures with an old one. I hadn't realized it was the same shirt, but it is a motivating comparison, I think.

The before picture was at my MIL's home, when my first was just four or five months old (right before I became pregnant with my second). I don't know for sure, but I am guessing I was in the neighborhood of 250-260 pounds, and still thought I 'wore it well' (denial's a scary thing, folks!). Okay, here is a 'before' picture, from when I was around 250-260, four years ago (I think, hard to say) and my current progress picture, at 190. Now most of my weight has been lost through calorie counting, but hCG did the last twenty pounds :)

Now in contrast, the same top but a very different body.

Losing weight is hard, folks. It is a long, slow process with lots of emotional work, in addition to trying to work out the details of what your body needs you to fix to reach optimum health. Was I happy in the first picture? Sure! I loved my family and had a great life. But my health? Not so great. I was sore, slow, and had a hard time lifting the baby AND my butt up the stairs. I had no muscle tone. I also felt uncomfortable in my own skin all the time. I knew I was pretty and young - I am only 21 in that picture! But I felt old, inside and out, and worn down.

The second picture is four years later. I am stronger from working out and doing lots of activity each day around the house. I can run with my kids, sit cross legged on the floor with them, heft two or three of them at a time, if need be! It is the same shirt, and several sizes too large for me now, but I wear that baggy old thing with so much more confidence. I am still beautiful, but I feel like my outside is a better reflection of the young, happy woman I am inside. I am not 'better' or more virtuous after having lost weight - fat isn't a more judgment of one's worth. But I AM taking better care of myself and being a better steward of the resources I have been given. I'm not idolizing food quite as much anymore. And to be honest, these changes have taken place over the past two years, when my weight was higher than this, and during pregnancies and regains, too. These changes happen to have brought me down the scale, but I needed to adopt a more active, less indulgent lifestyle whether it changed my weight or not.

I still have lotsnof improvements to make. I need to be more diligent with my daily activities, I've been lazy again. I also need to work on some strength training, because I was blessed with a mesomorphic body that does beautifully when I lift heavy stuff, and I want to hone that. I also need to keep sticking to my guns on these challenging days of this diet, and figure out a maintenance way of eating that keeps me feeling good (likely paleo, with low to no grains, sugar, and starches). I need to keep working on my body image, and not forget that it is my inward woman that God is looking t, not my appearance. I need to be grateful every day for the things I have been blessed with - health, a family to care for, ample resources to even be able to DO a diet.

But all spiritual issues aside, it is good to take a step back and remember how far I've come, especially when the journey forward seems SO long. I have a lot of room for growth and change, physically and emotionally, and it is worth doing the hard work to keep at it.

Still, don't expect to see the orange shirt again. I'm kissing size 18 goodbye for good, when I am swimming in it! ;)

As I am approximately ten pounds down again, i took the aforementioned new progress pictures. In real terms, I am only about eight pounds down from my previous batch (which were taken at around 55 pounds lost), but that doesn't tell the whole story. In between those pictures and the new ones I lost another six pounds, getting down to 192 one day and 192 for a week or two, went to my brother's wedding, gained weight eating the junk food in the hotel, came back from the trip in the mid-190's and struggled to lose the regain, then just maintain in a window, for six months. I was up above 200 again around Halloween and by the time I decided to iron out a new plan (this one) and eat to capacity so I wouldn't be hungry as my body adjusted, I was a full nine pounds OVER the progress pictures from the summer.

Now I am not only back to them, but below them, in three weeks. The real story is one of about 18 pounds lost, a fair but of time passing, and deciding that if something isn't working for me I really ought to change it. I am proud of myself and eager for the next ten pounds and more to be gone. When I'm ready to lose, I'm ready. The problem was not being in the game, mentally, for a lot of months. Still, that's life and I have no shame in taking my time. But now? I'm done with this stage. I'm done with obese. I'm really ready to move down and maintain in a new, lower window.

Here's a new (not my best, but works for the purpose intended) front shot, contrasted with the old one, below.

And the new side view, contrasted with the old.

I don't see much difference in these two, but from my starting pictures 67 or so pounds ago, the reshaping is pretty huge.

As for measurements, here is where I am at (measurement difference in parentheses is the contrast from my starting point on the hCG, on 12/14/11 and at 203.2 lbs):

Waist: 36.5 in (-2.5)

Hips: 48 in (0)

Bust: 45 in (-4)

Underbust: 36.5 in (-.5)

Thigh: 23.5 (-.5)

Upper Arm: 14.5 (0)

So it becomes pretty obvious where the weight was lost, doesn't it! A lot out of my bust and back (my back rolls are half of what they were, it's very dramatically smoother) and a noticeable few inches off my waist, but my hips and limbs remain virtually unchanged. Given that I was never excessively 'hippy' and my limbs have always been comparably slim compared to my torso, none of this is surprising but it IS quite a nice change. I imagine the inches lost will continue in the same areas with the same dramatic shifts over the next ten pounds. So as of yesterday I am down 17 pounds and 7.5 inches off the places I measured. I can't complain about that!

My weight this morning is 189.2, down 1.2 pounds from yesterday for a total of 18.2 pounds lost. I'm definitely heading in the direction I want to go by sticking to my plan like glue. Whenever the food is boring or I crave some junk I just remind myself of the amazing progress I am making and put the desire off for another day. The lack of sugar cravings and wheat bloat is amazing, I feel better and look better, too. Clear skin, no achy joints, sore throat, headaches, all the things I noticed from my dairy/sugar/wheat sensitivities. My clothes are getting looser, not tighter, also a nice change. I'm so grateful I found this program!

I did it! I finally broke through to a new low for myself, 190.4, down .6 pounds from yesterday for a grand total of 17.0 pounds lost since the beginning of the protocol.

Though I'm lazy and not in makeup right now, I will get spiffy later today for an appointment (chiropractic, I need it SO bad right now!) and then corner my husband into hallway pictures, where my door gets relatively larger as I shrink. I haven't had one of these in at least six months, I'd say it is long overdue.

Yesterday was rough for some reason, lots of cravings and willpower issues. I had to bake some more breadsticks for the protocol, which could have been the trigger. When I bake for my kids it is no issue because it is completely off limits to me, but these were specifically for this diet and I had one allotted to eat, fresh out of the oven. I think the warm, yeasty allure was a little too much for me. I ate one too many for the day but still remained under my calorie limit. Fortunately I shouldn't have to bake anymore for this cycle, and I'm grateful for that. No point in needlessly tempting myself!

My goal today is to stick to my guns as rigidly as normal. I am almost halfway through my injections (40 injections is what I am aiming for, with rest days every Sunday to stave off hCG immunity and rest days for the three heaviest period days) and eager to see the 170's or even high 160's at the end of this. The latter seems far too optimistic, but I do believe I could lose another ten or fifteen pounds in the next 25 days without making an unrealistic goal for myself. Fifteen down would put me at 175, and given how long it has been since I've even been in that range (I'll give you a hint, it's about a decade), I think I would be perfectly happy there for a two months or so while I do P3 and P4, before setting off down the scale and aiming for the 140-150 range.

Either way, I have to keep my goals in sight and remember it is just a few more weeks of this crazy restrictiveness before I can have what I am craving. I will do it, because this is for ME and it deserves to be done right.

Progress pictures and measurements to come.

I think tomorrow might be a picture day, as the scale was wavering between 190.8-191.0 this morning! I am taking the higher weight, just because, and calling it a 1.8 pound loss from yesterday, bringing my total weightloss to 16.4 pounds. Pretty good, eh? My face is looking MUCH slimmer and I noticed my ribs are today, as well. Measurements and pictures at 190 will tell for sure, but I'm very pleased with where the fat is coming off.

I have to admit it, I was making white chocolate bananas for the family yesterday and actually had a crumb of white chocolate. It was the very first thing I'd consider a 'cheat'. Amazingly enough, it was anticlimactic. Overly sweet and not nearly as delicious as my brain was telling me it would be. I skipped my grissini for the evening, just in case the carbs or sugar in it would cause me to react badly on the scale, but realistically it was less than a 16th of a teaspoon of chocolate. Still, that little crumb reaffirmed my decision to leave that sort of junk behind, even as a treat down the road. It's just not very satisfying, given what it does to my body. Some really dark chocolate or icecream? Maybe. But pure sugar like white chocolate? As tasty as it is in my coffee, it's better saved for company, I think. I haven't decided whether the (killer delicious) white chocolate powder should just be taken to church and left in the kitchen by the coffee maker for others to enjoy or not. Wisdom says it should.

No major plans today, other than getting my butt downstairs and watching the kids so my husband can spend his last day off doing something he wants to do. Tomorrow is back to the normal grindstone and hopefully my sore ribs will cooperate with both bible study and chiropractic.

Lets gets the weight data out there to begin with - I was 192.8 today, down .4 from yesterday. I've been spoiled by big losses every day so half a pound seems a little puddly, but it is good to remember that is actually what most women average while on this protocol :)

My shingles were bothering me a bit more last night than usual (sleeping was sore and I couldn't lay on my back easily) and this morning I was definitely feeling more sore than I had the previous two days. I did a fairly 'normal' day yesterday in terms of cleaning, shopping, etc and I think I did a bit too much. Unfortunately I missed church today, which I am bummed about, but I am thinking I'll be feeling well enough to do bible study on Tuesday, at least. I just need to not overdo it here in the last few days I have to rest before my husband goes back to work.

As the title indicates, today is Sunday and thus the day I take my weekly injection break, to help hold off immunity to the hCG. Later today I will also be mixing up a new batch of the Hucog as I used my last dose yesterday. There is supposed to be 16 doses per mixing jar but with the length of my needle it is very hard to get the last dose or two out of there, so I just tossed it. I have plenty left to do a normal or even extra long round (if I buy more syringes) so losing a dose or two each batch isn't anything to sweat over.

I'm definitely losing inches, which is quite nice! A fleece vest I bought in a large that was almost two small to zip before I started the protocol now fits nicely. I can also button up my size 16 jeans again, without terrible muffin top. My bras fit better, skirts are looser, all positive signs that I am indeed back where I want to be. It's going to be exciting to surpass that in a week or so, but right now I'm just enjoying the relative thinness I haven't experienced much of since this summer (the weight I gained eating during the trip in California and Vegas never was shed properly, I just yo-yo'd around the upper side of it for months and then slowly creeped up another four or six pounds on the fall).

It's hard to believe such a small difference on the scale and in the percentage of my mass could make a huge visible difference in my appearance, but it really does. Slimmer face, flatter belly, far less back fat, you name it. I look good at this weight. Not my best, not my goal, but this is probably the upper limit of what is tolerably 'suitable' for my frame in terms of appearance, where most people would classify me as 'normal' or 'pudgy', even though I am still obese by the technical definition.

As I mentioned months and months ago, 189 is the first weight where there is a break in the cost of our medical insurance, so we will be placing a call into our agent when I reach it. The weight must be maintained at or below for a year before the discount is awarded, which is why we want to get that call in sooner than later.

I can't think of anything else to ramble about, so I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh batch of solution and hopefully a new low!

Chugging along here, nothing novel to report. My weight is 193.2 today, which is down .8 from yesterday, and puts me at 14.2 pounds lost in 14 injections (remember, I am tracking days by the ones I have actively treated with hCG, there's been a few rest days in there ;) ).

My kids are spending the night at their grandparents' home and my husband let me sleep in, so I slept from midnight to almost noon and it felt quite nice. Funky dreams, though. Either way, I'm refreshed and ready to take on the day, with only a little soreness to complain about in my ribs.

On my to-do list today is getting new clothes for my four year old. Her stuff is high water and her sister has outgrown most of her three year old clothes, so it's time for another shift downward. I don't really like shopping but it must be done on occasion. Or rather, let me rephrase that - I love shopping, but I hate driving to and parking at the mall, which is a mess. The actual clothes part of it doesn't bother me.

Either way, I promise it won't be as much fun as it sounds! Then I have more knitting to do and maybe watching through a movie here at home, before the children get back. Weee! I live an interesting life! (not)

Good morning! It looks like I won't need to be breaking any stalls forcibly, as I am down to 194.0 this morning (13.4 pounds down from my original weight!). I am right in the range of 192-194 I was in for my brother's wedding this summer, and it looks SO much better on me than 200. My face, in particular, is looking much slimmer and less puffy. No hunger issues or major cravings, though I was having some head hunger when I smelled the bacon Peter made for the kids this morning. That will be all mine to enjoy in a few weeks, but until then, tea with a tbsp of milk is my fare.

The shingles continue to get progressively better. Though the entire area around my right ribs is still tender and the skin is tingly and hypersensitive, it can bear enough weight now that I can finish knitting the socks I began for my MIL for Christmas. The shingles struck right in the middle of my last minute finish-it blitz and I couldn't get them done in time. Once those are off the needles, legwarmers are my next order of business! It is getting too chilly under my skirts, even with boots and thigh high socks, so I'm going to add an extra layer of insulation to cover the gap in my boots and go up my knees. We'll see how that works out :)

Nothing else to report, really, other than that I am also able to do small chores again, like folding laundry and dishes. I have to b on my Vicodin and move slowly, but they get done. My energy is deceptive - I feel all right and begin doing something, but hit the wall of soreness and exhaustion much more quickly than I anticipate I would when I begin. That seems to be the toll healing is taking on my body. I am also sleeping long hours at night and still having a hard time waking up, from naps and the overnight rest, which seems to be a side effect of the painkiller and my body spending its reserves healing me and dropping pounds. It's not bad, just a bit of an adjustment. But every day I see an improvement in how I feel, so I can tolerate the (diminishing) side effects for the time being.

I was able to do quite a bit today, though it drained me quickly. Even though I am feeling better I am definitely still in recovery.

Shingles aside, for a moment, can I just say how thankful I am to have found this plan? How perfectly timed the entire change in eating and habits was? Praise the Lord! I am so grateful for the option to go high fat, ditch the wheat and sugar, use caution and much fermentation with the dairy, get AWAY from unsatisfying diet food, and most of all, ditching the inflammation? It is wonderful!

I am taking stock of myself here, approximately two weeks in. My bloat and bowel issues? Gone. I noticed they were gone because the antiviral messed with my guts and made them come back - I hadn't even realized how regular and mellow my stomach and intestines had been until something gummed up the works again! Hunger cues? Fixed! I don't really get hungry on this diet, and that's the way it is supposed to work. But that burning desire to eat the whole house, munch constantly, scarf every carb in sight? Gone. Sore throat, runny nose, headaches? Gone.

Really, other than one minor headache during detox and the shingles, I have been doing remarkably well. The protocol has cleaned up my system, cleared out the junk, given my body time to repair itself and my brain much time to absorb and mull over how great this all is and what permanent changes to make to keep it this way.

And darnit, I'm excited to lose weight again! Not complacent, thinking I can't control this or content with not being at goal but not being 'huge' again. I'm making plans for what new clothes I want to buy, imagining new hairstyle to try, new items to knit to spiff myself up, how I'm going to look when I visit my family. I'm content to put off another baby for a bit, as my husband needed me to, in order to lose more weight. That is huge! I'm enjoying feeling good after eating - not sick or constantly wanting more. I'm definitely looking forward to eating fattening, lovely, real food in P3.

The injections don't bother me, the meal plan is simple, the maintenance plan is so perfect and doable for my life it's remarkable. God has been so good to me in answering my prayers regarding diet, exercise, and food. I wasn't ready for so long, but now that I am in a better headspace and willing to move forward with this, I'm raring to go!

This stuff needs saying just as much as the dry, daily nuts and bolts or the complaints. I have to cheer at how good I feel and how well this works, even in the midst of a horribly painful illness. I can't ignore that this has been wonderful for me and these lessons must be taken with wisdom. Grains and processed, sugary junk aren't my friends. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucrolose? Give me headaches, spike my insulin, and make me crave sugar even worse than sugar, itself! Going gluten free isn't enough - I really have to watch my starches carefully and fill up on fat and protein, with a delicious side of low-sugar fruits and vegetables, and leave the grains to the very occasional splurges and heavily fermented, well broken down porridges. They just don't play nicely with my body's chemistry.

I am itching to get to 190. You cannot believe how ready I am - even now I can see so many inches lost and bloat just melted away. My belly is flatter, my face is bright, my energy (sickness aside) is solid... I want to get down the scale and stay down it more than I remember ever wanting it in my life. I have not cheated a lick, crumb, swipe. Not a bit. And my desire to, for the most part, is nil. I am so looking forward to the way of eating at the end of the protocol I don't even miss my previous indulgences that I could never quite control. Very occasionally I want a bite of pizza. But I can make up something healthier and tastier and more satisfying at home - why not? And if I have pizza once a season at a restaurant? That's a choice I can make (and my guts will have to live with it). But when there are so many tastier options that don't fight me all the way into the toilet? Why would I go back?

I have to keep reminding myself that this is best and not forget why I ditched my previous standard American diet for good. Why just calorie counting wasn't working. Why grains are bad for me. Why simple substitutions like coconut flour for all purpose is going to make as tasty a goody but with far less negative impacts on my health. Why 190 pounds on my frame wasn't a place I was willing to stop forever.

It is good to sit back and take stock on occasion. Especially when I am uncomfortable, like with the shingles, tallying all the wonderful blessings I have had and can still look forward to is a wonderful way to spend my time. Almost as wonderful as imagining myself thinner and healthier, in a particularly cute dress ;)

Weighed in at 195.0 again today, which is the same as yesterday and pretty close to the last two days before that. No big deal, but not my favorite. My body had to adjust to these rapid losses and I can tell, visually, I'm losing inches in my torso. My cup size has diminished by at least one (made my husband sad, but he'll live ;) ), my belly is smoother, my back rolls are less, you name it. I know I am sticking to the protocol like glue so I just can't complain about a stall or two. Given that I am still on my period, antivirals, and pain meds with very sore muscles? Some might be water retention I just can't control, too.

The best thing I can do is stick to the plan and let it work. That includes days of stalls or small gains. The human body, on ANY diet, is not a machine. It doesn't work like a well-regulated clock. Expecting it to is setting oneself up for a lot of disappointment. As for me, I'm looking forward to a nice whoosh here soon.

My shingles are hurting slightly less today, the skin is still hypersensitive and the band of muscles aches, but it's not tear-inducingly bad. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things and adding some chores and such back into my activities. It's a slow process and somewhat frustrating, but I can't rush healing.